1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to voice telephony using derived voice technology. More specifically, systems and methods for providing uninterrupted transfer of voice telephony to a derived voice technology such as over a digital subscriber line are disclosed.
2. Description of Related Art
Voice over asynchronous transfer mode (xe2x80x9cVoATMxe2x80x9d) technology (or voice over digital subscriber line technology, xe2x80x9cVoDSLxe2x80x9d) technology is increasingly being utilized to provide derived, multiple voice line capabilities over a digital subscriber line (xe2x80x9cDSLxe2x80x9d) operating over twisted pair copper phone lines. VoATM technology involves digital transmission of voice conversations over ATM networks whereas voice conversations are traditionally carried over analog phone lines. Typically, the VoATM process involves segmenting a synchronous voice signal into cells, each cell with its own header, and interleaving the cells into the ATM network with cells from other sources, and eventually delivering the cell packets to their destination where they are converted back into a synchronous data stream. Specifically, single-line or symmetric DSL (SDSL) loops work particularly well for VoATM. SDSL offers in a single 2-wire implementation, a symmetric data rate of up to 1.1 Mbps or 1.544 Mbps with recent improvements.
To provide derived voice service to a customer premise, a derived voice customer premise equipment (xe2x80x9cDV-CPExe2x80x9d) capable of providing multiple voice lines over a single DSL line may be provided. Voice signals are delivered from a telephone between the DV-CPE and a central office (xe2x80x9cCOxe2x80x9d) over the DSL line. The CO is in turn connected to a voice gateway over an ATM network. The voice gateway is connected to a Class-5 voice switch which is in turn connected to a public switched telephone network (xe2x80x9cPSTNxe2x80x9d) over a GR-303 interface. Thus, Vo-ATM can provide connectivity from the DV-CPE to the voice gateway over the ATM network and to the PSTN over the GR-303 interface.
DV-CPEs are typically connected over ATM virtual circuits (xe2x80x9cVCsxe2x80x9d) to the voice gateway. The voice gateway may be common to a metropolitan area. Examples of virtual circuits include permanent virtual circuit (xe2x80x9cPVCxe2x80x9d), soft or smart PVC (xe2x80x9cSPVCxe2x80x9d), and switched virtual circuit (xe2x80x9cSVCxe2x80x9d).
With Vo-ATM technology over DSL, a single DSL line to a client or subscriber is capable of supporting multiple derived voice lines on a single PVC. Each port of a DVCPE can be activated and configured to provide dial tone from the voice switch by in-band provisioning over DSL. In particular, DV-CPEs may enable up to 16 telephone lines and high-speed Internet access to be delivered over a single DSL connection. The DV-CPE may provide a plurality of standard analog plain old telephone service (xe2x80x9cPOTSxe2x80x9d) ports allowing connections for telephones, facsimile machines, and modems. The ports may support features such as caller ID, call waiting, and messaging features. In addition, the DV-CPE may include a router to provide bridging and Internet Protocol (xe2x80x9cIP/IPXxe2x80x9d) routing to support applications for high-speed Internet and corporate access. FlowPoint(trademark) 2200V Integrated Access Device (xe2x80x9cIADxe2x80x9d) provided through FlowPoint Corporation, Los Gatos, Calif., is an example of a CPE device suitable for providing digitized voice features and high-speed Internet and corporate data access over a DSL line.
Incumbent local exchange carriers (xe2x80x9cILECsxe2x80x9d) and competitive local exchange carriers (xe2x80x9cCLECsxe2x80x9d) can both provide derived voice services over DSL. The dial-tone of each telephone may be provided by the voice switch of an ILEC or CLEC via the DV-CPE. However, if a customer switches telephone service from an analog or derived voice service provided by one LEC, whether by an ILEC or a CLEC, to a derived voice service provided by another LEC, interruptions in the telephone service may result during the switch over process.
Interruptions in the telephone service during the switch over process may result from the asynchronous or non-simultaneous occurrence of the various steps of the switch over process. One step in the switch over process is line number porting (xe2x80x9cLNPxe2x80x9d) from one LEC to another LEC where the same telephone number is kept. LNP from the ILEC to the CLEC may be accomplished with database updates at the ILEC and CLEC switches or at the PSTN. Another step in the switch over process is the wire cross connect at the client premise from the original voice service loop to the new voice service loop via the DV-CPE. Thus, interruptions in the telephone service during the switch over process may result from the asynchronous or non-simultaneous occurrence of the LNP and the wire cross connect at the client premise.
In order to minimize possible telephone service interruptions, the client may need to maintain an existing telephone connected to the old voice service line while providing another telephone connected to the DV-CPE for the new voice service line in order to minimize service interruptions. With telephones connected to both the old voice service line and the new voice service line, the client would not necessarily know which telephone to use to make an outgoing telephone call. In addition, the client would need to discern which telephone is ringing when an incoming call arrives. Further, such a configuration also complicates the switchover process.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a smooth switchover of voice service providers, a hot cut-over, dial-number portability and continuous telephone service in the actual cut-over from a voice line owned by one LEC, such as an ILEC or CLEC, to a derived voice line over a DSL line owned by another LEC.
Systems and methods for providing uninterrupted transfer of voice telephony provided by a first service provider to a derived voice technology over a digital subscriber line provided by a second service provider are disclosed. It should be appreciated that the present invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as a process, an apparatus, a system, a device, a method, or a computer readable medium such as a computer readable storage medium or a computer network wherein program instructions are sent over optical or electronic communication lines. Several inventive embodiments of the present invention are described below.
In a preferred embodiment, the system generally comprises a first telephone line configured to connect to a first and a second voice switch of the first and second service providers, respectively, having a same assigned telephone number, and a DV-CPE configured to connect to the first and second telephone lines and configured to selectively connect a telephone to the second voice switch.
In another preferred embodiment, the method generally comprises establishing connectivity between a telephone and a first and a second voice switch of the first and second service providers via a first and a second line, respectively, having a same assigned telephone number and selectively connecting the telephone to the second voice switch via a client premise equipment.
In yet another preferred embodiment, the method generally comprises connecting a derived voice customer premise equipment to a first and a second line coupled to a first and a second voice switch of the first and second service provider, respectively, and disconnecting service from the first service provider, where the derived voice CPE is configured to selectively connect a telephone to the second voice switch prior to the disconnecting and the CPE connects the telephone to the second voice switch after the disconnecting.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be presented in more detail in the following detailed description and the accompanying figures which illustrate by way of example the principles of the invention.